Disclaimer: I still don't have anything as pathetic as that is.
Chapter 4
"You ready sister?" asked Saline walking beside her sister.
"No I'm not, but there's no turning back now is there?" Serena answered with a quick smirk.
"You should leave now while you still have a chance," Joren hissed softly as he and his group brushed pass the twins.
"Don't worry about him," said Neal from ahead of them, "he's all talk,"
"Even if he's not he'll have a time dealing with Saline," said Serena smiling at her sister.
"What about you Serena? Are you saying that you aren't a fighter?" Neal asked curiously.
"That's for me to know and you to find out, if you ever make me angry," said Serena with a wide smile.
"I'll keep that in mind," said Neal thoughtfully.
The pages headed down to the practice courts, where they were met by what appeared to be two Shang warriors. The woman looked down at them fence where she perched. Her eyes had a pale yet intelligent look; her gray hair was cropped into short gray curls framing a face that was both dainty and weathered. Her clothes were simple and baggy.
The other Shang stood at the center of the yard his hands braced on his hips. He appeared to be a tall Yamani. His skin was golden, his limps pump, and his nose small. His eyes were black, but held a lot of life especially for a Yamani; his hair was short on the sides and long on the top. His shoes, along with the woman's, were soft and flexible.
"For those who are new," he began, "I am Hakuin Seastone, the Shang Horse. My colleague over there is Eda Bell, the Shang Wildcat,"
"I may look like someone's grandmother," the woman began dryly, " but, some grandchildren need more raising than others, and I supply it." She grinned and showed very white teeth.
The twins noticed that many of the pages looked intimidated especially the red headed Merric.
Hakuin told the older pages to pair up and run the first drill for Eda, while he beckoned the new pages over to him in the corner of the yard.
"Your first and most important lesson is to learn how to fall. You must slap the ground as you hit and roll. Like this," He fell forward, using his arms to break his fall. The pages jumped; the sound and the puff of dust he raised made the fall appear more serious than is was.
The Horse got to his feet and held a hand out to the blond Quinden. As soon he took is he found himself gently over Hakuin's hip. Only after he had landed did he remember to slap the ground.
"You have to do that earlier, as you hit," said Hakuin as he gently helped Quinden up. "Now," He beckoned to Saline and offered her his hand.
She grabbed his hand lightly and allowed her dainty body to be thrown. She flipped over his hip stretching her body upward and landing daintily on his other side standing on two feet.
Hakuin regarded her carefully his dark eyes thoughtful, "Who taught you that?" he asked after a long pause.
"My mother," Saline said quietly, wondering why Hakuin was looking at her like that.
"A Carthak?" he questioned
"Y-yes sir," she stuttered looking at the ground. She heard a few of the other pages gasp at this.
"Indeed, that is very well, but could you practice actually falling this time," he replied, holding out his hand again.
Saline nodded before grabbing it and falling as she had been instructed.
"I'm guessing you can land like your sister?" Hakuin asked holding his hand out to Serena.
"Actually, I usually have to land on all fours. I never quite managed to land on just two feet," she replied. This caused a chuckle from Hakuin.
Serena grabbed his hand and fell slapping the ground like she had been instructed.
"Good, good," said Hakuin to the pages just before the bell rang.
The next morning bell rang and the pages moved to another practice yard. A small black man in the uniform of the palace guard stood waiting for them beside a barrel full of wooden staffs.
The pages selected a staff as they passed the barrel.
"I am Sergeant Obafem Ezeko," he announced in a loud unaccented voice, "Formerly weapons instructor to the Imperial Guard of Carthak now serving the crown of Tortall. Lord Wyldon and I will instruct you in the use of various weapons. Pair up you new ones at this end of the line. Cleon of Kennan and Vinson of Genlith, come here to demonstrate.
Cleon was a big, redheaded boy and was Esmond of Nicoline's sponsor. He walked up by the sergeant spinning the staff idly. Vinson went and faced Cleon. Vinson was a tall, bony youth, and the twins had noticed him sitting with Joren during supper and breakfast.
He had them show the pages the different strikes and blocks. Vinson blocked Cleon strikes but scowled at him, showing that his strikes were harder than necessary. After all the strikes and blocks had been demonstrated the pages were told to pair up the newer pages pairing with other new pages.
Serena and Saline faced off in the lines and began to run the drill striking and blocking as they had been instructed.
"Stay on my count, high, middle, low," bellowed Ezeko.
Cry of pain could be heard as fingers were struck by the wood.
"Keep going! If your fingers hadn't been in the way they wouldn't gotten hit," yelled Ezeko.
Lord Wyldon arrived in the yard and began to correct the other pages. The twins noticed that he stayed purposely away from them.
"Enough," Wyldon said after a while.
"Switch partners," said the Sergeant, "Older pages pair up with the younger ones, and see if you can better their speed. Come on, switch pairs!"
Serena and Saline were pushed and shoved out of line as the boys rushed to attempt to reach the person they wanted to pair with.
Roald searched the lines for Serena; he was worried that she would end up with someone, who would attempt to harm her. He rushed down the line, but realized he wouldn't be able to get to her and decided to face pair with Saline. He could only hope she would find a decent partner.
Serena was shoved from behind into the line just as Ezeko blew his whistle for the drill to begin. She sighed quietly to herself as she realized that she had intentionally shoved here. She was standing at the end of the line as far from Wyldon and Ezeko as possible. As she looked into the eyes of her partner her suspicions were confirmed. She was partnered with Joren.
(Hey everybody, I just wanted to thank all you that have reviewed and hope that you will continue to. I also do realize that when Hakuin flipped Saline she had to defy gravity to land on her feet, but so what it's my story and I wanted her to. For all of you that think this story is MarySueing well I'm sorry, but this is how I wanted to write it, even though I have to apologize for any grammatical errors, I don't proofread. I'm thinking about making this a four part series like the Protector of the Small Quartet, tell me what you think.)